Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are recognized as one of the most effective avenues for building awareness in medical and scientific communities. As biopharma organizations reconsider their strategic approach to TL engagement, they are seeking an evidence-based understanding of current and evolving approaches to creating and maintaining an integrated, strategically-focused TL management system. Best Practices, LLC conducted this in-depth study to address the following key areas: -Identify the most common and favored organizational structure for strategic TL management and engagement -Understand the current state of TL management practices in the pharmaceutical industry -Determine how TL management practices are evolving Identify innovative practices that are driving TL management success at other organizations

1. Best Practices, LLC Strategic Benchmarking Research
Creating and Maintaining a
Strategic KOL Management and
Engagement System

2. Table of Contents
 Executive Summary
 Research Overview
 Participating Companies
 Key Findings & Insights
 Universe of Learning: Key Demographics of Participating Companies ………………6
 Structuring Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement …………….…9
 Administering Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement……………15
 Coordinating and Communicating Strategic Thought Leader Management and
Engagement……………………………………………………………………………………...22
 Aligning Software Tools to Support Strategic Thought Leader Management and
Engagement……………………………………………………………………………………...30
 Identifying and Engaging Thought Leaders………………………………………………..35
 Measuring Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement Success……..42
 Staffing Strategic Thought Leader Management and Engagement……………………45
 Looking Forward: Success Factors for Strategic TL Management & Engagement..51
 About Best Practices, LLC
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3.  Identify the most common and
favored organizational structure for
strategic TL management and
engagement
 Understand the current state of TL
management practices in the
pharmaceutical industry
 Determine how TL management
practices are evolving
 Identify innovative practices that are
driving TL management success at
other organizations
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Business Issue & Objectives
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are recognized as one of the most effective avenues for building
awareness in medical and scientific communities. As biopharma organizations reconsider their strategic
approach to TL engagement, they are seeking an evidence-based understanding of current and evolving
approaches to creating and maintaining an integrated, strategically-focused TL management system.
Harvesting
Insights &
Analysis:
Expert
Sources:
Objective:
34 TL management leaders from
29 biopharma and device
organizations participated in the
field survey, and we interviewed
4 for in-depth insights.
Field Survey &
External
Interviews
Formulate a Strategic Approach for:
 Improving the Value and Effectiveness of
KOL Management System and
 Ensuring Alignment with the Organization’s
Evolving Strategy and Structure
Research Objectives: Methodology:
INFORMS

4. Benchmark Class
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29 Life Science Organizations Participated in Study
Thirty-four TL management leaders from 29 biopharma and device organizations participated in the
external field survey, and we interviewed 4 participants for in-depth insights

5. Most Effective Way to
Coordinate TL Activities
Medical Affairs Guides TL
Engagement/Strategy
Strategic TL Management
Structure
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Key Findings: Study Snapshot of Peers’ Strategic KOL Management
Many observations have been harvested from the study. These are some of the key benchmarks to surface.
Most respondents believe a decentralized TL management structure is not optimal, though almost
40 percent use a decentralized system now. Most view a hybrid or centralized structure (48 and 38
percent, respectively) as optimal for modern Thought Leader engagement.
Many companies (38%) seek to use a strong core team to lead KOL management companywide.
This can be hard as companies employ cross-functional oversight groups with leadership from
business units, medical affairs, marketing and others. In fact, 28% said that their companies have
no formal KOL management process in place.
Eighty percent of companies said Medical Affairs oversees TL engagement and strategy, but their
structures do not support this. Only 31 percent say that Medical Affairs handles the administration
of such programs. This represents a potential gap or hole where priorities can become misaligned.

6. (n=33)
Q3. How is your strategic KOL management and engagement system structured? Q4. In your experience, what is the
optimal organizational structure for strategic KOL management and engagement?
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Current & Optimal Strategic KOL Management & Engagement System Structure:
“I've done it both ways.
I’ve worked in
companies where they
had everything broken
down by business units
and then I've worked at
companies that said,
‘Oh no, business units
may become too siloed,
so let's bring it all
together.’”
- Senior Director
% of Responses
33%
48%
27%
38%
39% 3%
10%
Current Optimal
Hybrid Centralized Decentralized Other
(n=29)
Other Optimal: I have not found any system ideal in trying to handle management of internal team with external KOLs;
Marketing & Sales; Optimal structure often depends on the business needs and the size and fragmentation of the businesses.
No One Structure Seen as Best for KOL Management
No single structure for strategic KOL management is embraced by the 33 life sciences organizations that participated
in this study, although for current structure the largest percentage - 39% - utilize a decentralized structure. It is
noteworthy that while decentralized is used by many organizations, it was only favored by 3% when asked what they
felt was the optimal structural approach for this activity. Almost half – 48% - said a hybrid approach was optimal for
strategic KOL management.

7. Communication Key to Coordinating KOL Management
Communication was a theme in other approaches cited by participants for coordinating KOL
management across functions.
Q13. In your experience, what is the most effective way to coordinate strategic KOL management and engagement
activities across different functions and/or groups?
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Coordination of Strategic KOL Management and Engagement Activities continued:
• Define the roles of
each functions and
joint committees
• Having a defined
process and
transparency across all
functions and groups to
increase efficiency and
decrease redundancies
• Expert database with
strategic planning tool
and CRM database for
info sharing on activities
• Via regular quantitative
and qualitative feedback
(CRM tool, OL surveys)
• Regular, collaborative
meetings between KOL
strategic leadership
personnel and
relationship owners.
• Flexibility/ Course
correction based on
both micro and macro
trends: Discuss/revise
plan based on KOL
maps, scorecards (ROI/
strategy), what is
working/not working,
current and future
product mix,
megatrends affecting
healthcare, competitive
inroads, etc.
Communicate
effectively
between all
stakeholders
Organize &
leverage
field
feedback
Conduct
regular
meetings
Other

8. Ad Boards & Scientific Presentations Most Valued KOL Activities
A wide range of KOL activities are valued by organizations since these respected scientists, clinicians
and faculty members provide invaluable insights and credibility. Advisory boards and scientific
presentations were seen as the most valuable by participants.
(n=30)
Q22. Which KOL activities below are most valued by your company? (Check all that apply.)
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Most Valued KOL Activities
87%
Supporting Advisory
Boards
77%
Delivering
scientific
presentations
73%
KOL relationship
management
67%
Investigator-
initiated
research (i.e.
IITs, IST, etc.)
57%
Educating
KOLs & other
healthcare
professionals
50%
Coordinating
company-
sponsored
research/
trials
50%
Identifying &
training
speakers47%
CME
activities
43%
Recruit-
ment for
medical
pubs
43% CI
gathering
from TLs
33%
27% 33% - Attending medical conferences
27% - HEOR presentations/research involving TLs
17% - Managed Care activities involving TLs
17%
% of Responses

9. Extremely variable. No consistent process that I
am aware of. Each team does it individually.
Sales modification of physician behavior affecting sales
or patient safety // By tests and surveys // Cross
functional team meeting based on inputs from colleagues
Assessed by evaluating strategic utilization on a monthly basis
Market share or clinical trial results
Dedicated FTEs // Monthly report in spreadsheet // Project
deliverables // Publications, presentations and IIS plus more
difficult-to-measure relationship and advice received
Not evaluated // Not typically assessed within the company. But,
during the engagement activities, if the project was not performed to
satisfactory level, we will just not engage the KOL again.
Many Have Trouble Evaluating KOL Management System
Like KOL management itself, there doesn’t seem to be one accepted approach for assessing an
organization’s strategic KOL management system. While many claim no formal system is in place, a
quarter of participants said they rely on KOL feedback for their evaluations.
(n=24)
Q25. Describe how strategic KOL management and engagement success is assessed or evaluated within your company.
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Evaluating Success of Strategic KOL Management and Engagement:
29%
25%
8%
8%
21%
13%
Highly variable/ No formal
evaluation process
KOL feedback
KOL utilization levels
ROI
Other
None
% of Comments

10. Strategic KOL Management Requires Multiple Players, Layers
Executive interviews surfaced several recurring themes around what’s needed for an effective KOL
management system: software or internal platform that shows interactions; a coordinator or primary
point of contact for medical and commercial and a cross-functional team in each TA or BU that tracks,
aggregates and then shares KOL interaction information with senior leadership.
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“Medical should not be
creating the commercial
strategy, and the
commercial should not
be influencing medical
strategy. Once you get to
the very senior
management level of the
company, we're talking
Senior VP level, then
everyone needs to be in
congruence that ‘Yes, we
should go forward based
on what we're hearing
from the medical and our
commercial colleagues.’”
- Sr. Director 2,
Medical Affairs
• Identifies/Segments KOLs
• Shows Interactions (who,
when) for Medical &
Commercial
• Includes Notes Visible only
to Medical or Commercial
• Gathers Information from
Coordinator, platform/system
and across Functions
• Aggregates Information to
Show Status of Current and
Future Projects
• Shares Overview of Medical
and Commercial Status on
Current and Future Projects
with Senior Leadership
Cross-
Functional
Strategic
Group
(in each TA/BU
and includes
Coordinator)
Coordinator/
Primary
Contact
Point
System/
Platform
• Separate Medical &
Commercial Person for each
TA/BU
• Coordinates KOL Interactions
for Functions that don’t have
Regular KOL Contact
• Oversees and Guides Use of
System/Platform
KEY ELEMENTS FOR STRATEGIC KOL MANAGEMENT

11. Best Practices, LLC
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Chapel Hill, NC 27517
www.best-in-class.com
About Best Practices, LLC
Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that conducts work based on the simple yet
profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying
the best business practices, operating tactics, and winning strategies of world-class companies.
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